The Dunkirk evacuation took place during World War II (WWII). This was “...the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk...to England” (Encyclopædia Britannica). Shortly before Operation Dynamo –‒ the evacuation of Dunkirk –‒ began, the German soldiers swept through the West, “...storming into Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg with lightning speed” (Dunkirk Evacuation Ends). Operation Dynamo was the beginning of a mass exodus. Over a week time span, over 338,000 men were rescued, far surpassing the initial estimate of 30,000 rescues. This was capable due to the assistance of boat owners working unanimously for the same cause, sailing to rescue as many men as they were capable
This third group was an assembly of ships and other private boats. This was a highly pivotal moment in the Evacuation of Dunkirk. At this time, the British government sent out their call for all private boat owners to join the Admiralty in the rescue evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk to England. This is one of the most well-documented movements in all of the movie Dunkirk. Near the end of Dunkirk, all of the groups come together on the sea. More private British boats began appearing on the waters in efforts to rescue the soldiers. The soldiers spot a minesweeper and begin to head toward it. However, a German bomber his this minesweeper before the men were capable of reaching it. When the minesweeper was hit, people on the ship began jumping off and swimming away to the best of their ability. The surrounding water now fills with oil, the ship severely damaged. Now, in a life or death situation, the soldiers swim through the water to avoid the ignition of the massive amounts of oil seeping out of the ship. Despite their efforts, several men are killed when the oil ignites. In the evacuation efforts, “The Germans destroyed 177 Allied aircraft and sunk more than 200 ships, including six British and three French destroyers” (WW2 Dunkirk Evacuation). Pilot Farrier comes in contact with this situation, managing to shoot down the attacking German bomber as he ran out of fuel. Now, out of fuel, Farrier made a
Moreover, 40,000 were taken as prisoners of war (POW). These POWs were marched back to Germany and Poland to be used for mining, farming, and other manual labor. The men became slaves. Without this mass exodus of soldiers from Dunkirk, the victory of Germany in World War II would have been far more likely. Accordingly, Without this mass of soldiers, there would be far fewer soldiers able to fight throughout Europe. At this point in the war, the United States had not yet joined the war, and “...without the military might of Britain still in place, success on the European front would have been far less likely” (WW2 Dunkirk Evacuation). In the wake of the evacuation of Dunkirk, Winston Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom during this period, delivered one of his most famous speeches. This address was considered a turning point in morale for the British; the British people realized if they were capable of pulling off the impossible, consequently, they could win the war as a
Evaluation of the Success of the Evacuation of Children from Major British Cities during World War II
This was detailed in the Veesenmayer Telegram, “.approximately 27,000 Jews of both sexes who are able to travel and work, have been sent off to Germany. It is estimated that there remain approximately 40,000 Jews who are able to work and who will be sent off at a daily rate of 2 to 4,000. There will remain approximately 120,000 Jews, including those who cannot work and children.” One survivor, Frank Gipps told of his experience, “Finally it was our turn.” “We were young boys we could take anything, but there were old people there, grandmothers, and babies, and sick people.”
Why the British Government Decided to Evacuate Children from Britain's Major Cities in the Early Years of the Second World War
Why the British Government Decided to Evacuate Children in the Early Years of the Second World War
Evacuation was when children, expectant mothers, the frail elderly, the disabled, and the chronically sick were moved to safer areas of the country in anticipation of bombing but not all these people moved. The plan for the evacuation was drawn up by the Anderson Committee in the summer of 1938. An advice leaflet produced by the Lord Privy Seal’s Office in July 1939 advised everyone to move whose presence could not be of assistance. Although evacuation was voluntary, many leaflets, radio shows and other propaganda was produced by the government to try to persuade people to go. They put a lot of time, effort and money into the production of propaganda. The evacuation was nicknamed ‘Operation Pied Piper’ (with reference to the children’s story) and initially took place on the 1st September 1939, however The Anderson Committee overestimated the number of people who would leave, a million and a quarter people ...
AJP Taylor gave this quote from his book “English history” which was published in 1965. It says that Dunkirk was a great deliverance; this entails how the troops were saved and successfully delivered form the advancement of the German Army. However the disaster is referring undeniably to the more disguised details of Dunkirk, such as the great military defeat, the thousands of pieces of equipment and the 1.2 million prisoners taken by the Germans. The sources have a wide range of media, Source A being a painting and therefore less reliable due to it being just an artist’s impression of events. Sources B and C are pictures from the battle which means they will show a more accurate picture, although they only show a single instance in time. Source D is an extract of a speech by the minister for war, Source E is an article from The Daily Express, and therefore it is likely to contain some gathered information about the event. Source F is an extract from a book by AJP Taylor encompassing the quote making up the title which is useful for seeing the context in which the quote was made. Some sources are certainly more valuable than others, for their informative nature and lack of bias, for example source F is written by a historian more than twenty years after the event allowing for a large amount of research to be gathered and compiled for such a work, However source D has a huge amount of bias and difficult vocabulary therefore limiting its usefulness at supporting the claim by Taylor. Another factor at determining...
Through his speeches, he tried to persuade America to join in the fight against the growing power if Nazism. One of his speeches are “The Lights Are Going Out”. He said this speech in 1938, to the people of the United States. The purpose of his speech was to encourage the US to join forces with Britain to overtake Nazi Germany. The subject of his speech is the loss of other countries, and America joining the war, and the tone of the speech is urgency. Churchill’s word choices in his speech “The Lights Are Going Out” are effective through his use of rhetoric and vocal techniques.
Evaluating the Success of Dunkirk There are many opinions on how successful Dunkirk was; one point of
use to the war effort. It would be a huge moral boost if the parents
Reasons Leading to the Evacuation of Children from Britain's Major Cities Early in World War Two
Sir Winston Churchill’s speech, ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’ was a wonderful piece of moving rhetoric. The diction that Churchill uses to deliver his message is not so advanced that one cannot understand him easily, but still manages to portray a sense of Churchill’s deeply intellectual status without being condescending. It is a very inspirational piece, a moving speech, and a powerful call to action aimed to uplift the downtrodden population of Britain at the time. Churchill responded to the need for inspiration with his now-famous speech. His use of rhetoric not only inspired Britain, but was a powerful tool that brought about a final victory over the Nazis.
After heavy defeats in Normandy in July and August 1944, the remnants of the German troops were retreating from France through Benelux to German borders. In German lines was spreading desertion. Units disintegrated in the fight were escaping in all direction from the front back to Germany. Fast progressing of western Allies caused difficulties in supply, as the fighting was getting away from beaches. The whole Allied troops were supplied through the Normandy beaches and harbor Cherbourg. The Germans knew about the Allies problems and tried to keep ports as long as possible. The Allied Forces had trouble delivering supplies from the port to the advancing troops; they were progressing faster than the supplies could be delivered. They created so called “Red Ball Express” -supply system supported by 5,900 trucks. However, its mistake was that it consumed a lot of fuel.
The battle of the Somme was one of the most tragic battles fought during World War I. The amount of life lost on both sides was tremendous and historians everywhere agree that this battle was one of the bloodiest battles fought. With casualties upwards of a million, it is not surprising that the Somme is often referred to as the ‘bloodbath’. Historian Martin Gilbert explores the severity of the battle in his book; The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War. In his book he attempts to pay tribute to the soldiers who fought and fell in the battle. To do this he uses excerpts from diary entries, letters and poetry written by the soldiers on the front lines to give the reader a first-hand account of what the soldiers were thinking and feeling while fighting. Gilbert is able to effectively portray the horror of the Somme and reduce the anonymity of the fallen by sharing stories from the soldier’s personal writings, however his book would have been more effective if he had a clear well-structured argument.
Winston Churchill was perhaps one of the greatest public speakers in history. Some of the best speeches have come from being in life or death situations, Winston was known best for this. His small sound clips like, “this was their finest hour”, and “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”, encourage his troops and his people that they will win this war and will overcome the greatest odds. Although Churchill told many speeches, his speech on June 18, 1940 showed the most emotion and courage of any other speech he told. In this speech he explained that the war in France is over and the war in Britain would begin. He said that if we fail then the world sink into an abyss. This emotion that he shows would give Britain hope, courage and most of all determination.
The Second World War marked one of the most important eras in the history of the British Empire. Never before had the British isles faced a threat quite like the Nazi menace across the English Channel. Yet, Britain’s situation could be viewed as even more precarious once one considers the state of Britain’s economy, but more importantly war machine, at the outbreak of the war. Years of austerity during the Great Depression had left her armies in serious decay, while Germany had built arguably the strongest military in the world. Yet, Winston Churchill’s famous “Their Finest Hour” speech illustrates a level of confidence in victory that many Brits carried. And, this was in no small part due to the fact that they knew that they had the rest of the British Empire supporting their cause. Through the empire’s contribution of both materials and